Boulder's Tendril lays off 59 workers

Firm eyes profitability in 2013

The latest restructuring at Tendril Networks Inc. resulted in the layoffs of 59 employees at the Boulder-based home energy management firm, according to state records.

The job cuts took place Monday, according to a Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification Act noticed filed by Tendril with the Colorado labor department.

Last month, Tendril CEO Adrian Tuck said the company was restructuring to achieve profitability.

Months earlier in 2012, Tendril -- which, at one point, saw its workforce grow to about 200 people -- laid off an undisclosed number of employees.

Tendril's workforce is now under 100 employees, said Ginger Juhl, a company spokeswoman.

Tendril found success by securing significant deals with Duke Energy and Origin, but company officials miscalculated how the energy management market would develop, he wrote.

"But as we enter 2013, we have learned a lesson," he wrote. "Many utilities don't have the economic path to justify the investment in consumer energy engagement in the short term."

Moving forward, he wrote, Tendril's focus will be on landing "the most innovative and progressive utilities who are ready to go to scale."

"A more laser-focused Tendril will be profitable," Tuck wrote in a Dec. 7 post on the company's blog. "Tendril has made the important step to wean ourselves off venture capital. Our great syndicate of deep-pocket investors has just given us growth capital go give the management team options for growth, but 2013 will be our first profitable year -- utterly liberating in these lean venture capital times."

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